February 14th
by zephyrchild
Summary: A three-part fluff-fest set in the future. Booth and Brennan reflect on their life together measured by a holiday they don't really celebrate. I know its early, but its my Valentines Present to you Bones fans...
1. His Own Personal Squint

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing, except the plot.

Authors note: following fanfic is fluffy, taking place sometime in the unspecified future.

Seeley Booth waited impatiently for the elevator, a single red rose in his hand. It was Valentine's Day, not like that mattered when you were married to Temperance Brennan. It was apparently a stupid social ritual with no significance. Nonetheless, the day had marked too many dates in their relationship. The elevator finally opened distracting Booth, and he entered the elevator, which was empty. He checked his watch and waited for the elevator to start moving.

Two years ago today on the way back from a particularly disgusting set of remains Bones had sat in his SUV rambling on about "pair-bonding" and "offspring" and "evolutionary advantages". He couldn't remember all the words she had used, but when pressed Bones translated. She had wanted to have a child with him, and as she knew that if he were to agree that they would have to get married or enter into some sort of similar alternative arrangement. A few months later they did, having a very small wedding. He moved into her apartment, and she finally relented and purchased a television. Still Bones wouldn't let him celebrate Valentine's Day. And it wasn't like he had to do some big thing.

The apartment was quiet and he pulled the door shut behind him, it was quiet, and he briefly wondered if Bones had gone in to do lab work this afternoon. She still wasn't working full-time again, and her schedule was slightly unpredictable.

Booth glanced at the clock; a year ago right now his daughter was born into his hands. Right in their bedroom at the end of the hall. That hadn't been the original plan, having Lila at home, but Bones had detested their rather condescending obstetrician, and since Angela, whose son was born two months before had raved about her midwife, they'd switched over two months before Lila was born. And Bones had been completely in awe of her daughter immediately. But even this last year as Bones had devoted herself to their daughter as her top priority, she still described her bond to her daughter in terms hormone cocktails and brain chemistry changes. Except on that first day when they both just stared speechless at their baby.

Booth noticed the shoes by the door, and wandered down the hall to their bedroom. The sight he saw was so peaceful he hesitated before entering the room. Bones was lying on her side on the bed. Her shirt lying on the floor, her top arm around her daughter and her eyes peacefully closed. Lila was nursing, and it looked like it had put Bones to sleep instead of Lila. Bones eyes were closed. She was sleeping, Booth decided. And he crept into the room and sat on the bed behind her looking into Lila's perfect blue eyes when Temperance's eyes opened.

"I am not asleep." She muttered.

"I can see that." Booth smiled as Bones' head turned so that he could see both sets

"I'm just enjoying the flood of prolactin and oxytocin to my brain." Bones answered rubbing their daughter's back gently.

"Were you at the lab?"

"We were this morning. A few remains to identify nothing major."

"Did you have Lila with you again?"

"Of course."

He should have known, since returning to work part-time, Bones frequently wore Lila around the lab. "You don't think staring at remains is going to make her disturbed?"

"Booth, she's not going to remember, she can't see that much from my back anyways and she spent half the time in the Jeffersonian daycare centre. Parker found a human finger once, and he's still fine."

"It's still creepy."  
"What's that?" Brennan strained her neck slightly trying to see what Booth had in his hand.

Booth produced the rose with a flourish, "This is for you, Bones, because one year ago today, you had Lila." And it's Valentines' Day, he thought quietly to himself. And leaned over to give Bones a quick kiss.

As soon as their lips parted Brennan responded, "A rose, as a present for an infant?"

"No, for her mother. I can't believe it's been a year." Booth reached over and stroked Lila's cheek gently, "She's already starting to talk."

"Child-rearing is time consuming," she paused for a moment, "the ideal spacing for siblings is approximately three years, and as I've said before the pressure reduces when you reproduce in multiples. And children with siblings are often better adjusted as adults. However taking maternal age and desire to resume my profession into account, two-year spacing might be more ideal."

Booth blinked, "And in English Bones?"

"I'd like to have another baby." Brennan paused and continued, "Having Lila has greatly enriched my life, and I would like to have another child, but just one more. It's a rational decision."

Booth reclined and put his arm around her, "Of course it is Bones." His always rational scientist had managed to make expanding their family sound like a business proposition; he looked down at Lila who had fallen asleep during the conversation, a droplet of milk dribbling down her chin. The perfect little mini-Bones who so resembled her mother. It made him wonder what changes next Valentines' would bring, and if his Bones would ever let them celebrate.


	2. Her Psychoanalyzing Mate

Temperance Brennan removed her gloves quickly and discarded them in the trash, on the exam table were the severely decomposed remains of a man, who although mostly intact skeletally, would have to wait to be identified. Brennan had other plans for this particular Friday evening. She packed up her stuff much more quickly than she would have several years ago.

Today was Lila's fifth birthday, and the plans for the child's first real birthday party had been planned for this weekend. Mostly by Booth, Hodgins and Angela. Brennan had helped, but her ideas for the theme of her five-year-old's party had been quickly vetoed. Apparently historical themes were clearly not popular or appropriate for this age group. In less than two months her younger daughter Grace would be having her third birthday; that would not be so busy, as Grace wouldn't start school for some time. At most that party would include her father, and Angela's family.

It also signalled the sixth year of her relationship with Booth. This is why Brennan had a surprise for him, now tucked safely in her car waiting for later. There was never any outward sign of what she was planning, even as she checked the time, and hurried down to the parking garage.

Five years ago she had given birth to her first child, and Booth had caught Lila in his hands. Everything she had learned about was true, the massive amounts of hormones created a powerful bond. The memory of any pain disappeared as soon as she saw Lila and held her close, the unbelievable high and elation. She'd been speechless most of the day. Giving birth truly was an experience that was more than worthwhile.

The next year Booth had brought her a single rose and watched her nurse Lila, before putting Lila down for a short nap and making lunch together and engaging in conjugal relations. They'd had a small family party for Lila later that night. The year after she had been pregnant again, and the day had been busy. Parker had joined them earlier that day , and had enjoyed playing with Lila and teaching her silly gestures while she lied down to rest before the small family party that night. The large age difference between Parker and Lila had almost completely eliminated sibling rivalry, something that surfaced between her own girls. Seven months pregnant with a two year old had been very draining, and she'd been grateful for Parker's distraction so she could get some rest. Booth had come home early that day too, and massaged out the knots in her back. He'd brought her yet another rose, and continued to do so for the next year. And she remembered clearly they had argued over Grace's name. In the end, she'd agreed to his suggestion of Grace, but not until after their second daughter had been born. Literally seconds after Booth had caught Grace in his hands, the same way he had with Lila, he started calling her Grace, and that is exactly what her name was.

For Lila's third birthday, they'd kept it small. Hodgins and Angela brought Malcolm as Lila's first peer-aged party guest. Malcolm was only two months older than Lila and the children made excellent playmates. The following year they got all four kids playing together as there was a similar age difference between Grace and their daughter Iris. That year there had been no rose, whether it was the distraction the children provided or stress from a particularly confusing case at work.

Brennan scolded herself inwardly, and returned her attention to the road. It wouldn't be the first time she'd missed her turn thinking about bones, or Booth or her daughters. She took the next left, and managed to make up for lost time as she pulled into her building's underground parking. She grabbed the present for Booth from the back seat and made her way to the elevator.

When she arrived in her apartment it was quiet. She slipped off her shoes wordlessly, first checking her daughters' room; then her own bedroom. When she returned to the living room she saw what she had missed. Booth was passed out asleep on their couch Grace snuggled under his chin and Lila squeezed in beside them her head resting on her father's chest. The TV remote wasn't far from Booth's hand, and Brennan wondered briefly what they had been watching. Brennan smiled; it was moments like this that she was certain she had made the correct decision. She leant down and kissed Booth gently and backed away, waiting to see if he would wake.

Lila woke instead, "Mom," she smiled and tumbled gently off the couch, "Dad took me out of school early and we played all afternoon. He let me play squint with your old lab coat."

"Sounds like fun," Brennan answered, making a mental note to remind Booth of this later when their daughter began to show more interest in science, "Happy birthday Lila." She pulled her daughter into a hug, and noticing that Booth had started to wake up she added, "Do you want to call Grandpa and invite him over?"

Lila beamed, "Yes!" And Temperance watched her daughter run for the kitchen phone, before returning her attention to Booth. She kept one ear on Lila's eager chattering to her grandfather.

"Enjoying your nap?" Brennan smiled and looked to meet his deep brown eyes.

"What brings you home so early?"

"It's ok Booth, child-rearing is exhausting, and it's only natural to take the chance to rest when our offspring do."

Grace began to wake her brown eyes starting to blink.

"Somehow, we managed to produce two mini-squints, Bones," Booth's tone changed, "Lila was pretending her sister was a corpse today." He looked back at her with exasperation.

"She wanted to know more about what I do, so I explained to her about forensics and studying bones in age appropriate terms. I think its the television though, they both watch a fair bit of the discovery channel, I mean Lila's pretended to be a corpse before, and a turkey vulture for that matter."

Booth became distracted for a moment as Lila hollered for Grace, who literally leaped off her father's chest leaving him gasping and ran towards her big sister yelling "I want to talk to Grandpa!"

"What's that?" Booth had finally noticed his present on the coffee table.

Brennan picked up the bouquet of roses from the coffee table, "Six roses, one for every year-"

"Bones..." Although he was interrupting her his voice went low and soft.

"It's to celebrate the sixth anniversary of us forming our permanent conjugal relationship to facilitate child-rearing."

"I love you too Bones." Booth responded rolling his eyes.

"Happy Valentines' Day." Brennan sat and leant down to kiss Booth properly. When this kiss ended he looked up at her in surprise.

"I thought Valentines' is a stupid social ritual with no significance."

"It is, but sometimes you just have to experience something to understand it properly."

"Change of heart?"  
"No, participant-observation."

"What?"

"Anthropology? Observation is more than just watching, I've told you this before."

"Well, I guess we can observe our daughters fight over the phone." Booth gestured to the kitchen, and the noises that sounded like whining and crying were beginning.  
Brennan looked up in surprise, "Fighting for dominance once again..." Shaking her head she headed over to sort out their disagreement.

Their talk would have to wait until later, but there was always next February 14th.

Authors note:

There is going to be one last chapter... but we're almost done with these glimpses.


	3. Pairbonding

_Some years earlier..._

Booth climbed into the SUV, his hand partially over his mouth, "That was..."

"Bloated? Barely recognizable? More flesh than desired?-" Brennan offered some adjectives.

Booth looked at her incredulously, "Disgusting, Bones. That one was absolutely disgusting. I have seen corpses that were all bones, stabbed, beaten, shot, eaten by rats, liquefied in a bath tub, with their feet removed, eyes gouged out by keys, but I have never seen anything like that."

"Well it was-"

"Bones, I don't want to talk about it. Anything but actually."

A silence followed.

An odd look crossed Brennan's face, "What do you think about producing additional offspring?"

"What? Oh, I guess if I'd married Rebecca we'd have had another kid. But I don't really see that happening anytime soon. Why?" Booth answered; the annoyance clearly apparent in his voice.

"The pair-bond has anthropological significance dating back to prehistoric hunter-gatherer communities; the evolutionary advantages to pair-bonding have been proven. And although statistically monogamous relationships fail, many do endure and are productive within a society. Especially with regards to child-rearing."

"Where are you going with this Bones?" Booth looked at her quizzically.

"I want to have a baby."

"Ok..."

"And I want you to be the father."

Booth's mind spun, he managed an "Ok..." once more. He gripped the steering wheel tighter, Bones, his Bones, was practically proposing to him.

"And I think that forming a permanent conjugal relationship would be wise, either a marriage or similar."

"Bones, this is crazy. We were just at a crime scene, and now- you're proposing. This is not what normal people do Bones."

"So is your answer yes? We have more than successfully engaged in sex before, and we're been successful in this partnership for the past few years. There's every reason to think that a marriage between the two of us would work."

"So what you're saying is marry me Booth I love your annoying ass?"

"No," Brennan stopped and considered, looking back at him completely serious, "More or less."

"But do you love me Bones?" Booth looked at her in complete seriousness. Oh he wanted to say yes, he wanted her, but only if she'd answer yes to the one question he knew she'd probably avoid.

"We do share a deep emotional bond-"

"But do you love me?"

"Isn't that what I just said? A deep emotional bond, cause by chemicals in the brain reacting to stimuli. That's what love is." Brennan answered.

"It sounds really romantic when you put it that way." Booth's sarcastic reply was unmistakeable, even to Temperance Brennan.

"Yes, the answer is yes." Brennan finally answered getting slightly frustrated.

"Then you've got yourself a husband Bones."

"And you've gotten yourself your very own personal squint." She answered, her voice laced with sarcasm.

"So, we get married in...May?" Booth cautiously suggested.

"May... would be nice." Brennan nodded.

"A quiet little thing. Your dad, a few friends, we'll just keep it really small."

"We don't tell the FBI, or Sweets."

"Yeah, we don't tell Sweets."

"This could get interesting."

"Definitely, oh- and its Valentines' Day. You proposed to me on Valentines' Day." Booth said rather please with himself.

"No, its coincidental. Its a stupid social ritual with no significance. We aren't going to celebrate it."

Booth thought carefully, "What about celebrating our engagement?"

"Maybe after work."

Booth knew, one way or another he'd get her to celebrate- it'd just take a while. Then again, he was going to marry Temperance Brennan. Who knew where life was going to take him next.

FIN


End file.
